The Hills own three parcels, located on both sides of Hill Road and Jaffin Flats in North Greensboro, in whose conservation GLT has participated. The parcels provide long-distance views towards the north (the Black Hills) and east (Stannard and Wheelock Mountains.)
The original farm, including the parcels on Hill Road, was purchased between 1903 and 1929 by the owners’ great-great-grandfather, Abner, a descendant of one of Greensboro’s original proprietors (1791), Peleg Hill. Abner’s grandson, Edward, operated the farm into the 1970s.
In 1999 GLT purchased a conservation easement (CE) from Edward and his wife, Jane, on a 28-acre hayfield on the southern side of Hill Road. After Edward’s death in 2002, the Vermont Land Trust (VLT) purchased a CE from Jane in 2004 on 73 acres of largely open land, including the family’s homestead, straddling the road. Simultaneously the Vermont Nature Conservancy purchased from Jane, in fee simple, 98 acres of northern white cedar swamp, thereby expanding the Long Pond Natural Area. Following these transactions, Jane Hill transferred both conserved parcels to her son and daughter-in-law, who in turn conveyed them to their sons, Shaun and Darren.
In 2015 Shaun and Darren bought the former Jaffin farm, comprising 207 acres on both sides of Jaffin Flats. Simultaneously the VLT purchased a CE on the property, which contains a celebrated monitor barn (see photo below).
GLT contributed to the purchase of both CEs, which were largely financed by the Freeman Foundation. Forty per cent of GLT’s share in the first CE was covered by a generous grant from the Stony Point Foundation, operated by John and Francie Downing.
The CE on the Jaffin farm is one of three agricultural easements to which the Greensboro Selectboard has approved an allocation of $12,000 from the Greensboro Conservation Fund.
Shaun Hill has established the internationally renowned Hill Farmstead Brewery on the two-acre Homestead Complex located on the 73-acre parcel conserved with the VLT.
